


The Place in All

by templemarker



Category: Haven - Fandom
Genre: Other, Speculative
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-09-08
Updated: 2013-09-08
Packaged: 2017-12-26 00:31:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/959430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/templemarker/pseuds/templemarker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She comes back to herself, as always, with a heaving gasp.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Place in All

**Author's Note:**

> Spoilers through the S3 finale; speculative fiction.

She comes back to herself, as always, with a heaving gasp. 

The room is quiet, and soft with rugs and blankets. She sits up, closing her eyes, breathing deeply, and when she opens them again, Howard is there. 

"Well done, Howard," she said, taking his hand to get to her feet. "You made an excellent choice, again. She was strong, and she loved well and deeply."

Howard gave her a warm smile, and they walked together through the door and out the hall, towards the others. "Audrey was one of the strongest I've seen," he said. "She made the choice with great sacrifice. You should be able to hold the curse at bay with ease, perhaps stronger when you grow weakest."

"Good," she said with fervor. "Good. We'll keep them safe for another age."

The door to the main room was cracked open, and there was light and laughter and noise past the threshold. She asked, "Where is my son?"

"He rests," said Howard. "He should join you soon."

"Good," she said. "There's much to explain."

"And you, lady?" Howard asked. "How do you feel?"

She smiled at him, her eyes full of stars. "Happy, that my land is safe again. Sad, for those I left behind. Hopeful, that my son can come to understand what we are. But mostly, I'm relieved to have made it through again, to have been sent back there, only to have made my choice again as I've made it so many times before. I'm bound to this land, I'm bound to its curse, and I venture out only to believe that I will always find those who love this land as much as I do, and that I will always find it within me to make the choice to return."

Howard stared at her in solemn companionship, and she found a smile to give him. "Howard, this is your rest too," she said. "Go tend to yourself. The journey has been long."

"It has," he said, giving her a half-bow and departing.

She paused on the threshold of the main room, bowing her head. The others were waiting for her on the other side--the Two who protected Nantucket, she who loved for the river valleys of Oregon, those who never left their Peloponnesian fields. He who held his secret island as a ward for Chicago. They would welcome her, sit with her, know she had renewed the promise of her land once more, and bide time with her until she left to protect them once more against the bitter curse at the heart of it. 

It never got any easier. But to love a place was to love it in greatness and tragedy, adoration and heartbreak. Her sacrifice was small compared to the lives her land held within it. 

She still felt it all, an echo of every woman she had ever been, every person she ever loved. She carried it with her, as a promise and a reminder for when she should return. 

Haven held her head up high, letting her tears fall away. She was not alone. She had the others, and her son, and the future left to unfold. She walked through the door to the main room, and let it close softly behind her.

**Author's Note:**

> This story nominated for "Most likely to be Jossed," by the incoming 2013 season. But I grew up on Roman myths and Xena; what's a girl supposed to do? 
> 
> References for the other genius loci include: 
> 
> 1\. The Two: Swindapa and Marian, from SM Stirling's Nantucket/Emberverse series  
> 2\. [Portlandia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portlandia_\(statue\)) (no, not Fred Armisen)  
> 3\. The honored dead who fell in the First and Second Peloponnesian Wars  
> 4\. Demonreach, from the Harry Dresden novels
> 
> And just to finish being ridiculous on a 500 word story, the title is from Alexander Pope's _Epistle IV_ :
>
>> Consult the genius of the place in all;  
> That tells the waters or to rise, or fall;  
> Or helps th' ambitious hill the heav'ns to scale,  
> Or scoops in circling theatres the vale;  
> Calls in the country, catches opening glades,  
> Joins willing woods, and varies shades from shades,  
> Now breaks, or now directs, th' intending lines;  
> Paints as you plant, and, as you work, designs.


End file.
